The Intrauterine fetal development process is complicated and affected
by many regulating factors such as maternal nutritional status,
transcription factors and adipokines. Adipokines are kinds of active
substances secreted by adipose tissue, including more than 50 kinds of
molecules. To explore the correlation between calf birth weights and
adipokines including adiponectin, leptin, visfatin, and IGF-1 in cows
venous and venous cord blood. Fifty-four healthy multiparous Chinese
Holstein cows were used; in which, cows with a calf weight less than 40
kg were included in group A (n=9); those with a calf weight between 40
kg~45 kg were included in group B (n=25) and ≥45 kg were included in
group C (n=20), venous blood and cord venous blood was collected. An
ELISA kit was used to evaluate the concentration of adiponectin, leptin,
visfatin, and IGF-1, correlations between index-index and index-calf
birth weight were analysed. In both cows venous and cord venous blood,
adiponectin, leptin, visfatin, and IGF-1 levels were significantly
correlated with each other (p<0.01), and levels of these adipokines in
venous blood were significantly higher than cord venous blood (p<0.01).
Adiponectin, leptin, visfatin, and IGF-1 in venous cord blood were
positively correlated with calf birth weights, and significantly
correlated with calf birth weights respectively (p<0.01). Our study
showed that adiponectin, leptin, and IGF-1 were found in venous blood
and cord venous blood, and adiponectin, leptin, and IGF-1 in venous and
cord venous blood potentially inter-regulated each other; adiponectin,
leptin, and IGF-1 in venous blood were not significantly correlated with
calf birth weights, while adiponectin, leptin, visfatin, and IGF-1 in
venous cord blood were significantly correlated with calf birth weights,
respectively.